1st Edition
When Your Neurons Dance A Story of a Doctor with Parkinson’s Disease
1. The Long Walk 2. Simply Complex 3. This Bike Is on Me 4. Muscle Memory 5. Learning 6. Perseverance 7. The ED with PD 8. More Medication 9. Connections and Coping 10. Kyoto 11. Oz and Oil 12. Community 13. Covid 14. Compromise 15. More Symptoms 16. Healthcare Professionals with Parkinson’s 17. La Sagrada Familia 18. Time Critical Medication 19. Co-morbidities 20. Enabling not Disabling Epilogue End Notes Appendix 1: My Dad: His Parkinson’s through my nine-year-old eyes script Appendix 2: Time Critical Medication: Ten Recommendations for hospitals
Biography
Jonny Acheson is currently an NHS Emergency Medicine Consultant who advocates to increase the quality of care for people with Parkinson’s when they are in hospital. He, alongside fellow NHS Professionals living and working with Parkinson’s, has put Time Critical Medication on the national agenda working alongside Parkinson’s UK. He is currently the Director of Engagement at the Parkinson’s Excellence Network, a post he has held since 2022. He studied medicine at Queens University Belfast and subsequently worked in Emergency Departments in both Northern Ireland and the East Midlands. He dabbles in letter art to create short films and sketches to educate about Parkinson’s. He has exhibited in Leicester, Barcelona and Paris.
He lives in Leicestershire with his wife and two children.
'When Your Neurons Dance offers far more than a clinician’s account of living with Parkinson’s—it is an insightful, honest, and deeply human narrative that blends personal experience with professional reflection. Accessible and affordable, it is a book that deserves a place in every hospital and medical academic library.'
- Tracey Smith, Co-Clinical Lead Nursing, Parkinson's UK Excellence Network
'While focusing on Jonny’s experience with Parkinsons, this book is relevant for clinicians, patients and family members who face any lifelong condition to help move from managing the pathology to managing the lived experience through the lens of taking some control.'
- Ruth Evans, Founder of Picker Experience Network, Patient Experience Book Club
'When Your Neurons Dance is one of the most clinically insightful and emotionally resonant accounts of Parkinson’s disease I have read as a nurse.'
- Sue Thomas, Healthcare Consultant and PPV member of NHS England Neurology Transformation CRG
